OREANDA-NEWS. August 20, 2015. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) returned to the US dollar bond market yesterday with the pricing of a \\$2 billion 5-year global benchmark bond issue, proceeds of which will be part of ADB’s ordinary capital resources and used in its non-concessional operations.

"We are pleased with the transaction and the consistent sponsorship from investors globally which allowed us to upsize the transaction to \\$2 billion,” said ADB Treasurer Pierre Van Peteghem.

The 5-year bond, with a coupon rate of 1.625% per annum payable semiannually and a maturity date of 26 August 2020, was priced at 99.461% to yield 16.1 basis points over the 1.625% US Treasury notes due July 2020.

The transaction was lead-managed by Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and RBC. A syndicate group was also formed consisting of BNP Paribas, Citi, Credit Suisse, Daiwa, DBS Bank, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Morgan Stanley, Nomura, and TD Securities.

The issue achieved wide primary market distribution with 34% of the bonds placed in Asia, 25% in Europe, Middle East and Africa and 41% in the Americas. By investor type, 53% of the bonds went to central banks and official institutions, 38% to banks, and 9% to fund managers and other types of investors.

ADB plans to raise around \\$19 billion from the capital markets in 2015.

ADB, based in Manila, is dedicated to reducing poverty in Asia and the Pacific through inclusive economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth, and regional integration. Established in 1966, it is owned by 67 members – 48 from the region.  In 2014, ADB assistance totaled \\$22.9 billion, including cofinancing of \\$9.2 billion.